Unreasonable Objectives Are Dishonest Standards

Leviticus 19:35

35Do not use dishonest standards when measuring length, weight or quantity.

It goes with out saying that, as Christian Business Leaders, we should always manage using Christian principles. The sometimes subtle shaving or rounding of numbers can get out of hand. We all immediately get defensive and say we would not be involved in it, but I am sure that, statistically speaking, we have all been involved in matters that we are not proud of. One overlooked area of potential dishonesty is having goals and objectives or production quotas that are just simply unreachable by employees. Having witnessed this firsthand, the following is a likely scenario.

A new manager comes on board. The new manager does not like a certain subordinate. The subordinate, although a long-term employee and well liked, is now under increased scrutiny of the new manager. The new manager shows a negative bias as to the employee’s personal activities, education, and even their personal life activities. The new manager not only demands unreasonable objectives from the employee, but they also eliminate any support positions or staff that support the subordinate’s function. The employee begins a spiral downturn of poor performance, crying out for assistance until the new manager gets his twisted objective met and fires the employee. The manager then hires someone at two-thirds the pay and rationalizes his decision on a warped sense of “lack of performance”.

This, dear reader, is dishonest, but practiced in some organizations.

The best solution to setting unrealistic goals and standards that lead to termination is simply to never get there at all. But, if your organization has, now is the time to correct it, ask for forgiveness and move on. If you are honoring God by managing an organization beyond reproach, you are building a “Kingdom Minded” Organization.

Help our community of readers

What dishonest practices have you met in your career? (Please do not include names of individuals, organizations or companies.) What God-honoring processes, as they relate to goals and objectives, have you witnessed?

2 Comments

I find that this situation may exist but normally the replacement worker is not shortchanged on salary. The manager may actually justify paying the new employee as much or more saying this s the “type of person” we need in this job. Thus indicting the former employee. Also, one of a managers challenges is dealing with stagnation. People who are in roles a long time feel comfortable and do not like change. a new manager comes in being asked to stimulate change. When met with resistance a clash ocurrs. New manager if she’s not careful might become consumed with personal aspects of the resistant employee; the established employee might pick up on every slight too, much in the same way married couples obsess over small behaviors or differences leading to conflict. As this evolves usually the manager “wins” through termination. It’s a shared problem and conflict with two stubborn people drawing lines in the sand and using emotional weapons. The answer may be to prayerfully focus on results and seek to build a resistance that ignores annoying idiosyncratic behaviors as long as they do not breach policy, law or erode the teams ability to perform.

If a manager truly has an ulterior motive to reduce payroll through termination without regard to performance then the situation is different. We each have to make up our hearts and minds if we would be a person like that. But my experience is that this is part of a managers character. If you are that person than the only way out of it is some kind of revelation. One that inspires change through self honesty and introspection. Like a twelve step methodology.